Hemorrhage remains a leading cause of death in trauma patients. Vascular injuries, which threaten both life and limb, have always constituted a serious problem in the surgical management of traumatic conditions. Intravascular shunts have been used to restore and maintain arterial flow during the repair of complex injuries, especially those involving extensive bony or soft tissue destruction.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a catheter assembly used as a shunt for restoring blood flow in a traumatized blood vessel. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for restoring blood flow to a traumatized blood vessel using a catheter assembly.